To Become Strong
by Don't Use Orbs
Summary: Ash and Dawn infiltrate into Galactic Veilstone HQ, aware of Cyrus's Red Chain plan. To stop this, Ash must use the power he promised himself never to use, and Dawn must overcome her fear. They must be willing to kill. Rated T because of minor xD blood.


**Author's note: Taking a break from Eternity. I can't get into the mindset. If any of you read this story's summary on my profile, this turns out a bit.....ok. A LOT different. The summary on my profile is basically for the last chapter. And the story will have 3 chapters. This is set right before Ash and co. are invading Veilstone Galactic Headquarters in Sinnoh, which means Ash has 7 badges. In this timeline, Ash and Dawn have discoverd Cyrus's plan of using the Red chain. Don't ask where Brock is. xD You'll find out....maybe? xD**

"Damn."

A blue haired man with a spacesuit went down, hit into unconsciousness.. A shadow passed, then 2 more after a slight delay.

"Got'em."

Another spaceperson was knocked over, and 3 shadows moved across the hallway. The place was extremely dark, with only one occasional light penetrating the darkness every so often. There were machines everywhere, and drawers with Arceus-knows-what inside.

'_This place is like a maze!' _One of the shadows thought. The silhouette, of course, was right. There weren't that many floors, but the building had made up for that with its complex design. The structure seemed to have endless hallways, and a plentiful supply of them too, to keep anyone with no knowledge of this structure out.

"I knew this infiltration wasn't going to be easy, but I wish we wouldn't see a grunt at every corner!' The same shadow fumed, cracking his knuckles. Another shadow noticed this, and sped up to stand side by side. "Hey, Ash! No need to worry! At least you can knock'em out without using any Pokemon! They need to save their strength, remember? Although this is kinda violent….."

The person named Ash responded. "It's the only way now. Team Galactic is about to take over Sinnoh with the Red chain, so we can't afford to mess anything up on this mission. We can't afford to waste our Pokemon's ener-

"Pika pika!" A rodent-like figure, dressed in black popped out of Ash's backpack. "Ssh!" The boy warned. "Pikachu, we can't let anybody know who we are! You're the most famous Pokemon on my team, so they'll know it's us right away!"

"Pika pii…" Pikachu put on an understanding face, and quickly slipped into the backpack again.

"Let's get moving."

"Right."

_10 minutes later_

"Ash! Which-floor-is…itnow?" The girl asked him, gasping for air. She was never one for running, or sports at all for that matter.

"We should almost be there." The auburn-eyed boy reached into a side pocket in his backpack, and took out a map. "From the map Looker gave us, we're on the 2nd floor, and the galactic meeting is happening right now on the 3rd floor. Taking the staircase up on the hallway to the left should get us there. Then we'll be able to get in and challenge Cyrus."

The girl stopped running and looked at the ground, eyes darting around nervously. She shuddered. Ash, realizing his mistake, stopped running, and spoke up. "Oh! Sorry Dawn……that name just came out by mista-

"There's no need for that now Ash." The girl named Dawn whispered quietly. She looked up at him. "I know it wasn't your fault."

"Dawn…" _'You're not referring to what I said….I know. I know it was my fault that it happened.'_

'Anyways, let's get moving. Like you said, there's no time to waste!" Her face changed into a smile, and she pulled on Ash's hand. "Let's go!"

Blushing at the contact, and encouraged by her change in emotion, he started to speed up, keeping up with her pace.

'_I can't lose my composure here. We can't lose. Not yet. Not until…..'_ The boy drifted off into thought while he ran with his companion.

_Flashback_

"_Stop it!" Dawn was screaming at Cyrus, tears streaming, watching._

"_HA! Weavile! More! Shadow claw again and again!" The delusional man named Cyrus shouted at his sharp claw Pokemon, who was rather enjoying his malicious attacks. _

"_PIPLUP!" The penguin Pokemon was screaming in pain, getting slashed painfully with Weavile's claws covered in a shadowy aura. 1 slash, 2 slashes. Piplup was losing its edge. 3 slashes. 4 slashes. Down on one knee. _

"_Aah! I won't take this anymore!" The bluenette launched herself at her Pokemon, shielding it from the claws with her back. The claws came in contact with her, slicing her skin and caused blood to drip down. The Weavile continued attacking, true to it's nature of it's pre-evolution. _

_Slash, slash, slash. The girl's eyes welled up in pain, but Piplup was showing no emotion, for it had already lost consciousness. 'Mom…..Kenny……Zoey…..Nando……Brock……I won't see you again in this world…….Ash…..I can't-'_

_The pain suddenly stopped._

_Dawn, too tired to turn around to see what had happened, fell unconscious, moving Piplup out of the way last second so she wouldn't crush him._

"_Dawn, you idiot. No need to worry, huh?" A boy holding a Pokeball walked into the clearing. He was dressed in a dark blue vest with a yellow stripe stretching across, and light blue jeans. His hands were wrapped in black fingerless gloves, messy dark hair covered with a cap colored in various colours, and shoes with the same colouring as the cap. _

"_Chimchar." The boy's face was torn into a furious scowl as he addressed his fire monkey. Chimchar, face serious but unreadable, readied itself for battle. _

_A sudden burst of flame ignited, throwing Cyrus and his Pokemon into covering their eyes, but Ash stood, unfazed. _

"_Blaze."_

_End Flashback_

"Ash, you can't fall asleep! This is IMPORTANT!"

"Ugh….wha?" The boy's eyes split open. _I had only closed my eyes for a second! What happened?_

"Ash, you ready for the battle?" Dawn's face appeared, and Ash, somewhat looking unaware, shook his head to clear his thoughts.

"Yes, Dawn, let's go."

The two advanced on the set of stairs, eyes open and alert. Ash took one moment to recall Professor Rowan's words before the infiltration:

_Do not hesitate to kill._

_Veilstone Galactic headquarters 3F_

"My long-held dreamworld is on the verge of becoming reality." Cyrus was making a speech to a crowd of….uncountable galactic grunts. The 3rd floor was the smallest of all, but still vast in size, with enough room to host a gym battle in. The room was decorated with red banners with the gold G symbol of Team Galactic embedded in it, and a television screen with the same symbol.

"All those headed to Mt. Coronet, and those who remain here…" The Galactic boss dipped his head in humble respect.

"Though our missions may differ, our hearts beat as one." He lifted his head, and eyes shot open.

He roared the end of his speech. "LET THERE BE GLORY FOR TEAM GALACTIC!"

Hollers of approval came from all the grunts, voices mingling into in incomprehensible, but obviously positive words.

"CYRUS, CYRUS!" The grunts words formed into one chant, and Ash had decided it was time to charge in.

He looked at his Pokeball. "Chimchar, ready for this?" No answer was needed. "Dawn, back me up in case it gets rough, okay?"

The bluenette nodded seriously.

"Chimchar, Blaze. Kill them all before they get a chance to react."

Under normal circumstances, a Pokemon would think twice before doing this. After all, they were part of nature, something that would rather not harm anyone (Author's note: of course, don't mind the tornadoes, tsunamis, floods, volcanoes, earthquakes, and such). A trainer, also following normal conduct and etiquette, would also not perform these kinds of treacherous deeds. But over time, Chimchar had learned to accept Ash's decision, and behave according to his will due to the extreme trust created.

These were also not normal circumstances.

Chimchar's eyes shot open in a maniacal fashion, claws and teeth lengthened and sharpened, and the fire on the monkey's butt grew to extreme proportions. Bright flame erupted from the fire monkey like never before, twisting shape at random fluctuations, and then shot forward to burn everything. Bodies were singed, and the flare stopped. Specks of fire and ash were left in front of Ash.

"I see you have come."

_______________________

The next chapter will have the fight, obviously. :P Now don't go thinking Chimchar's Blaze can just kill anybody on the spot (just about most people xD).....


End file.
